Carbon reporting is becoming increasingly more important for everyday fleet management, with two significant developments in 2024 potentially impacting on fleets.
The first issue – the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) has warned – is that some UK companies will be affected by the introduction last month of Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol emissions standards across the EU.
These stipulate reporting for the first time across the entire value chain, including business travel – and the UK could see similar, compulsory standards adopted following a recent consultation.
The second is the UK’s Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme phase three, which applies to large undertakings and their corporate groups. It will extend the amount of energy consumption on which they must report from 90% of each business’s carbon output under phase two to 95% later this year, something that could well affect fleets.
The AFP said both moves represent large and potentially complex reporting tasks and are part of a general environment governance trend that over time is affecting more and more businesses that operate vehicles.
Paul Hollick, chair, said: “It is certainly becoming a more prominent topic of discussion within the AFP. The facts are that reporting of this type is a specialised area and one with which more and more fleets are having to become conversant over time, yet genuine expertise is not that common.
“It is certainly an area where some fleet managers are looking to plug gaps in their own skills, especially when it comes to greater familiarity with the metrics and reporting formats used, as well as how to gather appropriate data.”
And while carbon reporting so far has tended to affect larger and often multi-national fleets, there are signs that the measures will impact on more businesses over time – not just on a potential statutory basis, but because larger customers are increasingly demanding it from a supply chain compliance point of view.
“Of course, fleets generally have a very good news story to tell here. With electrification, massive strides in decarbonisation have been made in recent years and there is a clear route mapped out for similar improvements in the future,” Hollick continued.
“However, in some instances, specific improvements need to be made, especially where fleets are tasked with meeting requirements to satisfy larger clients of their own businesses. This may especially affect commercial vehicle operations, where strides towards decarbonisation have so far been markedly slower than for cars.
“It certainly appears that this is going to be a growing area of fleet management, and one that is only going to become more of a day-to-day issue for our members.”
Fleet operators looking for further info on carbon reporting can pick the AFP’s brains at next month’s GBFE. The association will be at the event on 17 April in Milton Keynes to provide advice to operators on fleet challenges, as well as discussing the benefits of membership. More details of the show are here.
